By Scott Dubler
Anyone who has used the popular program PINE to read and write electronic mail (e-mail) understands how frustrating it is to stare at the monitor waiting for CUNIX to catch up. Fortunately, the waiting is over because PC and Mac Eudora allow users to retrieve and send mail quickly and easily.
If a user wishes to use PINE, he would have to load Telnet software, log into CUNIX, and then load PINE. When PINE finally loads, there is a long wait for it to open the mailbox. When Eudora loads, it automatically calls the Columbia mail server and downloads all new mail onto one's own computer. Eudora is fast and requires no input from the user.
PC Eudora requires Microsoft Windows or Windows for Workgroups and a winsock.dll. Mac Eudora requires MacTCP to be installed. Both mail programs are freely distributed on the Internet. To configure Eudora, a user first needs to go to the Special pull down menu and select Configuration. The E-mail address should be written in the POP account field, the name goes in the Real Name field, and the E-mail address should be written again in the Return Address field. Additional options to customize Eudora are available under the Configure pull-down menu at Switches. Once the mail reader is personalized, it is possible to check for new mail every ten minutes without any interaction from the user. When new mail arrives, the program will alert the user immediately.
Eudora provides several mail management features too. Users can create different "mailboxes" to place mail. Mail can be stored in the mailbox and on the Columbia mail server, or Eudora can be set to erase the mail from the server automatically.
Eudora's main functions are accessible from a toolbar. This makes replying, forwarding, printing, and erasing messages as easy as one click of a mouse button. These functions and others are also accessible from the neatly grouped pull down menus.
Since Eudora takes advantage of the Windows or Macintosh operating environments, messages can be cut and pasted very easily from other documents and placed into mail. Another benefit of the windowed environment is that several messages can be open at once. A commercial version of Eudora is available for sixty-five dollars which includes additional features and technical support.